Couple fighting over meth production arrested

A boyfriend and girlfriend fighting over the purchase of Sudafed to make methamphetamine were arrested, deputies said.

PATRICIO G. BALONASTAFF WRITER

DELEON SPRINGS -- A man got into a physical fight with his girlfriend Sunday when she refused to go to the drug store to buy Sudafed so he could cook methamphetamine, Volusia deputies said.

Billy Joe Clark, 41, of DeLeon Springs, then called 9-1-1 to report that his girlfriend Ashley Taylor, 29, had set a fire inside the home at 316 South St., arrest reports show.

In the end both Clark and Taylor were arrested and charged with domestic battery after deputies determined they both attacked each other, investigators said.

Clark and Taylor also face possible charges for manufacturing methamphetamine after a meth lab was discovered in a garbage can, reports state.

According to reports, deputies were called to the South Street address at 3:55 p.m. Sunday by Clark, who reported his girlfriend had set something on fire. Deputies found a smoldering stack of paper in a bedroom.

Taylor told deputies Clark had been harassing her all day Sunday about her going to the pharmacy to purchase Sudafed so he could cook meth. She refused, and that's when Clark became physical with Taylor, pushing her and trying to go into her purse to take her cellphone. Taylor suffered redness to her left shoulder and arm, deputies said.

Clark told deputies Taylor was breaking things in the house and called 9-1-1 after she set a fire in the home. Clark had scratches to his neck area and arm. Deputies also found a broken mirror inside the home.

Taylor said she and Clark had been shooting meth and did not know what he did with the bottle of meth he was cooking.

Clark denied cooking meth, but when deputies looked into a garbage can, they found several needles and empty Sudafed pill packages.

Deputies also found inside parts of several batteries and a soda bottle that was smoking and appeared to be a one-pot methamphetamine cooker, investigators said.

Deputies retreated from the garbage can after a smoking bottle of Liquid Fire drain cleaner was discovered and called agents from the West Volusia Narcotics Task Force. Taylor was given a pretrial release from the Volusia County Branch jail; Clark was being held Monday night on $1,000 bail.